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Singapore sling: When Trump meets Kim Jong

Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2018 by Pat Ferguson

Singapore sling: When Trump meets Kim Jong

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Monday in Vienna that "the irreversible closure of the site will be an important confidence-building measure that will configure to further efforts towards sustainable peace and verifiable de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula".

Experts say Kim needs to maintain good relations with his country's main patron as the Trumpmeeting looms.

The identity of the visitors was not immediately known. Now the moment of truth is on the horizon and with fingers crossed, every Korean as well as the entire global community is waiting for the first-ever gathering between America's sitting President and North Korea's supreme leader in Singapore in June.

Fears over North Korea's relationship with the West have caused various indices - including the U.S. 500, FTSE 100 and Japan 225 - to fall on several occasions over the last nine months. Moon's willingness to accept Kim Jong-un's proposal for joint participation in the Winter Olympics triggered a series of diplomatic advancements in Seoul-Pyongyang relations.

All three men are ethnic Koreans who became naturalized US citizens.

The source said, "Currently, North Korea is trying to grasp what the United States wants and add onto it a bit to present a 'big proposal.' The United States, knowing this, intentionally is not revealing what it wants". Instead, we can be sure the Chinese leaders leaned on Kim to stop testing his nukes, stop with his belligerent words, and agree to go to the table with representatives of the USA and South Korea.

Some Chinese commentators have also been playing up the significance of Xi's involvement, saying Xi can act as a mediator to keep the ball rolling if the talks are held back by conflicting demands; Trump had vowed that he would "walk out" of talks if they are not "fruitful".

Trump a year ago pressured the United Nations Security Council to cut off most of North Korea's exports and curb fuel imports to stop Kim from pursuing the capability to strike the USA with a nuclear weapon.

Kim Dong-chul was arrested in 2015 in North Korea, two years before the other hostages, on spying charges.

Singapore appears to be a safe pick for the summit. The two sides have much to discuss bilaterally - to the point where Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that the talks might drag on into a second day. Previous efforts at denuclearization of the Korean peninsula always seemed to involve discussions ranging from the harshest possible global sanctions to fire and fury like the world has never seen.

"Kim sounded Xi out about the possibility that North Korea could receive economic support from China during the denuclearization process", the Japanese daily wrote.

Whether a Trump-Kim summit produces something different remains to be seen. "But I also don't think that Un [Kim] is smart enough for a long con". There are still at least four Americans being held in Iran...

A TDP online poll asked readers: "How confident are you that President Trump will be able to get Kim Jong Un to agree to total nuclear disarmament during their upcoming summit?"